Promise

Avalon Lee

Cressida fiddled with the end of her braid, bored out of her mind. Grandmother was telling another one of her “stories.”

The Ordeau family sat around the campfire, everyone paying rapt attention to Grandmother’s ancient face moving animatedly as she conjured the old legend to life. Well, everyone except one member.

Cressida noticed the absence of her brother Tobias. She scanned the area; the 18-year old seemed to have vanished. Careful not to draw attention to herself, she quietly vacated her folding chair and snuck into the shadows.

“Tobi?” she whispered. There was no reply. “Tobi?” she repeated, slightly louder. “Where are you?”

She crept through the campsite, the midnight moon casting an eerie glow on the trees surrounding the clearing. She thought she glimpsed eyes shining from the darkness of the forest, but it could well have been her imagination. She felt a chill run down her spine, and she shivered involuntarily.

Cressida turned toward the family’s tent. If you’re hiding in there . . . She extended a hand toward the tent’s edge, then drew it back sharply, suddenly fearful of what she might find within.

She rolled her eyes at her own paranoia. You’re being stupid, she told herself. It’s a tent!

Feeling more assured, she swiftly pulled back the tent door, and braced herself . . . for nothing. The fabric-walled room was empty, save for a few sleeping bags and cots. She smiled in relief and turned back around.

“Boo.”

Cressida shrieked at the sudden sound and jumped about a mile in the air. Her heart beat madly as it desperately pumped adrenaline through her veins. Once she was able to breathe again, she glared at the voice’s owner.

There stood Tobias, laughing hysterically, blue eyes glinting with mirth. His long black hair, that their mother wanted to cut so badly, shone in the moonlight.

Cressida’s green eyes widened in realization, then narrowed in anger.

“You jerk!” she growled, half laughing, herself. She punched him in the shoulder repeatedly, anger increasing when he appeared unaffected by the impacts.

He put on a mock sad face, still chuckling at his trick. “Aw, Cress, I was just kiddin’.”

Cress turned away, arms crossed, pretending to still be angry. She could never really be mad at him, not with those big blue eyes of his, and his genuine smile.

His earnest voice came from behind her again. “Honest, I was.”

She rolled her eyes. “If you’re honest,” she said with a slight smile, looking to face him again.

“You’ve gotta admit, though; it was pretty funny,” he said in defense, grinning.

“Not when you’re the one being pranked.”

He held his hands up in surrender. “Fine, fine. You win.”

Cress gave him smug look. “So, why’d you leave the fire, anyways?” she asked. “Aside from escaping Grandmother’s story?”

Tobias’s demeanor transformed instantly. The light in his eyes faded, and his smile disappeared as well. He turned away from her; head bowed, and shoved his hands into his pockets. His dark hair covered his face like a curtain, obscuring his features.

Cress was alarmed by this sudden change in her normally cheerful brother.

“I was just . . . thinkin’.” His voice was casual, but she was not deceived.

She opened her mouth to ask how that would affect him so much, when he continued.

“Thinkin’ . . . about Dad.”

Cress closed her mouth abruptly. Oh. Their father had served in the U.S. Navy. He was based in Pearl Harbor. He had been killed in that attack that had killed so many others. He was last seen on the U.S.S. Arizona; his body was never recovered. The news had devastated Cress and her brother; but none were more affected than their mother.

Something had changed within their mother that day; her smiles never reached her eyes anymore, and her laugh sounded empty and devoid of happiness.

Cress remembered the day soon after when they had visited their father’s gravestone. She had brushed the tips of her fingers over the engraving. The stone seemed so cold and lifeless, like her heart. The impersonal message:

                    Matthew Ordeau

                     Killed in Action

                  December 7, 1941

Tobias had walked away without saying a word.

Cress recalled a conversation she had had with Tobias not too long after that day “that would live on in infamy.”

“Tobi?” she had asked.

“Yeah?”

“Am I—am I a bad person?” She remembered now the tears.

Her brother, her big strong brother had come and taken her in his arms, noticing her distress. He’d stroked her blond hair, not seeming to mind that she was a teenager and teenagers didn’t cry.

“No. Oh, no, no, no.” he answered.

She remembered feeling how she’d had to explain to him how she was feeling inside.

“But, but . . .” she started over again. “When we hear all those reports on the radio, and listen to what those men say of what happened that day”—they always just called it ‘that day’—“I don’t feel mad. I feel sad.”

Tobias tried to say something, but Cress had stopped him. If she didn’t say it now, she never would.

“A-and when President Roosevelt said his speech on the radio, declaring war, it’s like all America has rallied to fight. They all want to do to Japan what they did to us.

“I know Japan is the bad guys. But after hearing of the horror of Pearl Harbor, I wouldn’t wish that on any human being, not even an enemy. I don’t think it’s right to hurt people like that.

“I’m supposed to be mad. A-am I a bad person for not wanting to avenge what Japan did to us?”

She had buried her head in his chest, not caring that she wasn’t a little kid anymore, that she was fifteen.

She would forever remember his reply.

“Cress. I believe that you have a wisdom beyond your years. Now look at me.”

She’d gazed up into his comforting blue eyes.

“Don’t you ever say that you’re a bad person again. You’re a very good person, perhaps the best I know. And don’t you let anyone tell you otherwise.”

She had beamed broadly, and hugged him fiercely. “Thanks, Tobi.”

But now, the Tobias she saw before her wasn’t confident and reassuring. Where was her big brother in this broken shell of a young man?

Cress was broken out of her troublesome thoughts by the sound of a throat clearing. She realized that Tobias was continuing his words on their father.

“And . . . I’m going to enlist.”

The words hit Cressida like a hammer blow. She nearly staggered back from the impact. WHAT?! Her mind screamed in confusion. Slowly, it started to piece things together. We’ve entered World War II . . . young soldiers needed . . . Tobi is 18—old enough to enlist . . . he may di—

She cut off her mental turmoil. “No. No! You can’t! I won’t let you!” She found herself grabbing her brother’s shoulders, as if she could prevent him from leaving then and there.

Tobias gazed down at her patiently. “Cress. Lower your voice.”

“No!”

He sighed. “Cress . . . I have to go.”

“No, you don’t! There are plenty of other young soldiers in America that can fight besides you!”

“I will fight. I want to do everything in my power to keep Hitler from marchin’ here. And, I want to finish what Dad started.”

Cress felt her tumultuous emotions turn to anger. “Don’t you dare bring Dad up!” she accused. “Dad went off fighting, and now he’s dead! Dead, you hear me? If you join the army, you’ll die too!” She paused, feeling tears fill her eyes. She cursed her brother. She cursed her father. She cursed those countries that started the war in the first place. “I can’t lose you, too,” she said in a painful whisper.

Suddenly, she felt her brother’s arms envelop her in a hug. She could smell his aftershave, and could feel the softness of his jacket.

“You won’t lose me. I promise.”

“You swear?”

He broke the hug briefly to stand with his hand over his heart. “I, Tobias Ordeau, do solemnly swear to return to you, my dear sister, after I blast the Nazis back to the Stone Age.” He said this rather formally.

Cress reluctantly giggled and added, “Return in one piece.”

He gave her his wonderful, big brother smile. “And in one piece,” he repeated.

                       ~~~~~~~~~

He didn’t keep his promise, was Cressida’s only thought as she reflected back on that day four years ago. It was now 1946, and the Second World War had since ended.

Now, as she sat on the back porch, gazing at the sky; she realized that her heart hadn’t aged a day. No, it remained on that fateful day when Tobias had made his promise, the one he hadn’t kept.

Cress had long since lost hope of ever seeing him again. Missing in action, the note had said so impersonally.

The sun was setting now, its red light creating a dim, unearthly glow on the earth’s features.

And as Cressida stood and turned around, she saw a sight that healed her wounded heart.

A lone figure stood silhouetted against the fiery setting sun, his Army uniform crisp and untouched by time. His blue eyes sparkled, and that smile spread across his face.

“Told you I’d come back.”

© Avalon Lee, 2014. All Rights Reserved.

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